LECTURE 6

TOPIC: THE ELLIPSE

Definition

Let and be two points in the plane, and let be a number greater than the distance between
and The set of all points in the plane such that | | | | is called an ellipse.

The points and are called the foci of the ellipse.

The two forms of equations of ellipses in standard position are;

√
{

√
{

Eccentricity denoted by is the ratio It indicates the shape of the ellipse, for of fixed length,
the curve flattens out as approaches and the curve approaches a circle of radius a as
This ratio takes values between 0 and 1.

The numbers have the following geometric interpretation;

length of major axis.

length of minor axis.

distance between the foci.

Length of latus rectum is given by since it is the double ordinate at

Example

Sketch the ellipse and find its foci.

Solution

Dividing both sides by 8 we have

Since √ √ The foci lies on the major axis and in this case it is the x-axis.
To determine the coordinates of the foci, we need to compute the value of Thus √
√ √ .

The foci are the points ( √ ) and (√ ). The graph of the ellipse is

((
k
V √ (( √

√ √ √

Example

Sketch the ellipse

Solution

The given equation is equivalent to with √ and The foci and major axis lie on
the y-axis. The vertices are ( √ ) and ( √ ) √ √ √ , thus the foci are
( √ ) and ( √ ) ( √ )

( √ )

( √ )

( √ )

Example

Find the equation of the ellipse with foci at and the vertex at

Solution
The location of the foci shows that the centre of the ellipse is at the origin, so that and the
equation we are looking for is of the form

The given vertex, 6 units from the origin gives us

Thus

The required equation of the ellipse is

Example

Find the length of the semi major and the semi minor, the coordinates of the vertices, the coordinates of
the foci, the lengths and coordinates of the latera recta and the eccentricity of the ellipse

Solution

Dividing both sides of the equation by 36 we obtain .

Since the larger of the two denominators 9 and 4 appears in the term containing the major axis lies
in the y-axis and from the equation we obtain and

Therefore the length of semi-major axis is 3 and that of semi-minor axis is 2.

The coordinates of the vertices are and those of semi-minor axis are
.

Since √ √ √ and so the coordinates of the foci are ( √ )

The length of each latus rectum is given by = and the coordinates are ( )
( √ )

√
The eccentricity is the ratio and thus

Example

Find the centre, semi-axes, vertices,foci, length of the latera recta and the eccentricity of the ellipse
whose equation is
Solution

By completing the square of x and y we have;

( ( ) )

( ( ) )

( )

which can be reduced into standard form as

( )

Thus the centre of the ellipse is at the point ( ) and the major and minor axes coincide with the line
and respectively.

The semi-axes are and The coordinates of the vertices are

( ) ( ) ( )

Since √ √ √ and so the coordinates of the foci are ( √ )

( )
The length of each latus rectum is given by and the eccentricity is the ratio and thus
√

Example

Show that is an equation of an ellipse.

Solution

Completing the square we have;

Dividing both sides of the equation by 36 we obtain;

In the translated XY-system with origin the equation becomes

This is an equation of an ellipse whose vertices are and and foci are ( √ ) and ( √ )

In xy-system, the centre of the ellipse is the vertices are and and the foci are
( √ ) and ( √ )

Example

Find an equation of the ellipse whose foci are and and whose major axis has length 12.

Solution

Since the foci and lie on the major axis, the major axis is the line

The centre of the ellipse is midway between the foci and is the point

In the XY-system with origin the ellipse is in standard position with major axis on the Y-axis.
Equation of the ellipse has the form

Since the major axis has length 12, it follows that

Since the distance between the two foci is 8, we have

Therefore √ √ √ The equation of the ellipse in the XY-system is

In the xy-system the equation is